In 1888, after two years in Paris with Theo, Vincent made his way south to Arles in search of a more tranquil environment where he hoped to better attend to his mental and physical instabilities. Van Gogh made himself at home in a small yellow building on the Place Lamartine, made famous in his painting The Yellow House. Sadly, the edifice was destroyed during World War II, and was replaced by a temporary structure serving as a tobacco shop at the time of Pollack's visit to Arles. The café from Café Terrace at Night stood less than a block away from Van Gogh's home, and can also been seen in the background of The Yellow House.
In his paintings, Van Gogh focused not on the Roman ruins for which Arles is famed, but on the town's built and natural surroundings, such as the expansive rocky plain of Le Crau. Pollack photographed these features as well as the nearby Abbey de Montmajour and fishing village of Ste.-Marie-de-la-Mer, sites Vincent frequented.
Perhaps a reflection of Van Gogh's contemporaries' general unease with the eccentric artist, most locals remained surprisingly ignorant of Van Gogh's renown during Pollack's time. A small street named after Van Gogh (unknown even to Arles' taxi drivers) is shorter than one full block and ends unceremoniously in a junkyard. The sole man who expressed appreciation for the artist was a hotel manager. Even so, this was only because Van Gogh's history in Arles accounted for nearly two million French francs in revenue per year from admiring tourists.
- Alfred Nemeczek. Van Gogh in Arles. Translated by Fiona Elliot. Munich: Prestel, c1995.
- Peter Pollack. Site of the Yellow House. Photograph. 1949.
- Gilles Plazy. Les Chemins de Van Gogh. France: Editions du Chêne, 1997.
- Peter Pollack. Roman Ruins in Arles. Photograph. 1949.
- Peter Pollack. Pont de Langlois. Photograph. 1949.
- "Le Crau." Postcard. Nd.
- Peter Pollack. Le Crau. Photograph. 1949.